Flea Market Finds

This morning I saw a wonderful reflector oven, which is also sometimes called a tin kitchen.  This reflector oven combined all possible variations into one!  It had a spit for roasting large roasts and big birds, hooks for cooking smaller game birds and was designed to have a shelf for baking.  I was sorely tempted to buy it, but managed to resist, since I own many more reflector ovens than any one kitchen needs!  I have multiple ovens for roasting and baking and while I only have one bird oven, I’m sure that is sufficient for as frequently as I cook tiny game birds!

After virtuously passing up such a wonderful tin kitchen, I did give into temptation and buy an amazing early pictorial sampler in a birds eye maple frame.  For even though I could do without more 18th century cooking implements, I could not pass by fine stitchery done in pinks, purples and mauves!!!  The new sampler is now hanging in my kitchen where it is right at home amongst my claret colored woodwork and purple transferwear!

9/8/14 Addition

I’ve had a request for photos of the sampler too 🙂  These aren’t the best photos, since I get a lot of reflected light in my kitchen, which is why I didn’t post any yesterday…  The light was still a problem this morning, but I took  photos anyway and here they are!

This is the sampler that I bought yesterday at the Elephant’s Trunk flea market.

I love all of the different motifs in this sampler. I immediately identified with it’s maker! Who wants to stitch boring old letters and mottoes when you can use off those pretty colors of thread to stitch pictures instead!!!

This is one of my other “kitchen” samplers that was stitched with similar colors.

I feel very fortunate to have found a handful of antique samplers stitched in purples, lavenders, rose, pink and mauves. This is the third one that resides in my kitchen. The fourth hangs above a very early R.I. blanket chest in my bedroom.